Meet Gloria Vila: DCTA Customer Service Extraordinaire

February 25, 2016

Gloria Vila, a Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) Customer Service representative, rides the A-train from the Old Town Station to the Euline Brock Downtown Denton Transit Center (DDTC) every day to work. While on the A-train, she enjoys listening to music, scrolling Facebook and talking with her grandkids, who also ride the A-train every morning for school. They arrive at the DDTC around 6:45 a.m. every morning, which gives Gloria time to do her regular before work routine which includes getting coffee, greeting her coworkers and focusing her mind on the day ahead. At 7 a.m. sharp, she is ready to assist customers.

Gloria has officially been with DCTA since 2006 as a Customer Service representative, but has been in the transportation industry since 1997 as a bus operator with SPAN. She enjoys building relationships with senior riders whom she still has contact with today. A typical work day for Gloria is answering phones, scheduling and entertaining her Green Cheeked Conure Parrot, Patches, which she brings to work about twice a week on nice days.

Gloria was born in Mineral Wells, Texas and has been a migrant worker since the age of 10. She moved to Mashpee, Massachusetts with her oldest sister and brother-in-law at the age of 16 to finish high school. Graduating from Lawrence High at 18 was one of her proudest moments in life. Continuing her education at 38, Gloria received a Tax degree from H&R Block and an Accounting degree from Brookhaven College.

DCTA’s Customer Service office can get pretty hectic at times, but Gloria stays relaxed by taking a 30-minute break during lunch to walk along Denton’s A-train Rail Trail. After a difficult call, during her lunch break, or even just to stretch her legs – she says she enjoys the walk. You can catch her “jamming out” on the trail to country music or rock “n” roll. Her favorite artists are Blake Shelton, James Brown and the soulful singers of Motown.

One dream Gloria had was to be an interpreter for the Mexican Embassy. Although she is not is not an interpreter for the Mexican Embassy, she still gets the chance to interpret for Spanish speakers who ride DCTA. “My job now is far from my original plan, but today I still interpret for people every day,” Gloria said.

Gloria takes pride in her job here at DDTC. She is always willing to go beyond what is necessary to help out our passengers. “Customer service is about giving the best that you can and I want to give them [the riders] the best. You have to have patience,” Gloria passionately said. “They’re the reasons we’re in business.” Gloria loves her job, and we at DCTA appreciate Gloria for all that she does to help our passengers!

 

Fun Q&A:

• Who is your favorite sports team? Die hard Red Skins Fan
• What hobbies do you do in your spare time? Bowling and Walking
• Where is the best place that you’ve lived? Cape Cod Massachusetts
• Who is your favorite music artist? Blake Shelton, Previously Aretha Franklin
• If you could have one superpower, what would it be? To make the world a peaceful place
• What is your favorite food? Meatloaf
• What is your favorite color? Yellow
• What was your first job? Public job as a dishwasher at a soda fountain drug store.
• Where is your dream vacation? To drive across the USA.

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